The officiating was bad against UK but not one sided. Just inconsistent. UK loss was disappointing especially due to the cumalitive effect of losing all these close road games but they made a ton of plays and shots in the 2h and deserved to win. MU was up 2 under a minute and couldn't finish yet again.

The Arkansas game was a joke. Some pivotal calls down the stretch that judging by the reaction on twitter was pretty universally agreed that we got screwed which I agree w/. Those are the most difficult losses for me to take.

But that's basketball. Everyone gets screwed every once in awhile. Doesn't make it easier to take but still. People confuse bad officiating w/ screw jobs which are not usually hand in hand. Usually bad officiating affects both teams.

The last time SEC fans heard from Mike Slive on the topic of his league's forthcoming television network, he all-but-confirmed the open secret to USA Today, stopping short of saying the decision was final but declaring that there was room on the nation's satellite TV packages and cable bills for "at least one" more conference-branded network.

So per the Bryan-College Station Eagle, maybe it's no surprise that Texas A&M athletic director Eric Hyman told the local Chamber of Commerce Monday that the network is definitely on its way -- but that Hyman is so certain of its imminent arrival (and willing to credit it for solving any potential Aggie financial issues) suggests that Slive's officially official announcement could come along any day now.

"We don't have a lot of financial maneuverability here in the athletic department right now," Hyman said. "But hopefully, when the (SEC) television network comes on in a couple of years we'll have more flexibility."

"It's a game-changer, it separates us," he added. "All of our teams will get exposure like they've never had before. The exposure that we're going to get is going to be phenomenal."

That would make the Aggies' leap to the SEC a win-win for both the school and its new conference home; a successful television network would likely make the SEC the most lucrative conference affiliation in the FBS (it distributed a record $241.5 million in 2011-2012, the final fiscal year before adding A&M and Missouri), and it was only the expansion into College Station and Columbia that made the current round of TV re-negotiations possible after the SEC signed long-term deals in 2008.

The SEC network is reportedly set to debut in August 2014, once the league's third-tier local television rights -- which unlike the Big Ten's and Pac-12's, are currently contracted out by the SEC's individual members and must be reacquired from those local rights-holders -- are taken care of. Other potential hiccups like cable/satellite distribution and scheduling must also be dealt with.

But if Slive's subtle confidence wasn't reason to believe those wrinkles are on the cusp of being ironed out (if they aren't already), Hyman's unsubtle confidence (and public expectation in the resulting financial windfall) is just another to reason to dismiss any lingering doubts. The SEC network is coming; the only questions now are when the league will get around to providing the details.

The Big East's seven departing Catholic schools are expected to start their own league next season and will keep the Big East Conference name, sources told ESPN's Brett McMurphy, Andy Katz and Dana O'Neil.

Joining the Catholic 7 schools -- DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, and Villanova -- in the new "Big East" this fall will be Xavier and Butler, sources said.

Creighton has emerged as the favorite to become the 10th team, and would also join next season, according to sources.
Xavier and Butler have not formally withdrawn from the Atlantic 10. To exit the A-10 with less than a year's notice would cost each school $2 million, Katz reported.

The Catholic 7's exit from the Big East is being expedited by Fox Sports Network. The network initially contacted the seven schools and laid the groundwork for them to leave the Big East with the promise of a lucrative media-rights deal, a source said.

Fox Sports Network is expected to announce the addition of the Catholic 7/Big East basketball league Tuesday in New York as part of the network's news conference announcing the addition of Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 channels.

Fox Sports Network's deal with the Catholic 7 is expected to be worth at least $3 million annually per school, sources said.

It's unknown how much it will cost the Catholic 7 to keep the Big East name.

The departure of the Catholic 7 schools, which would officially begin their new league on July 1, also could mean Notre Dame joins the ACC this summer instead of 2014.

Sources said Notre Dame has planned on remaining in the Big East for the 2013-14 academic year as long as the Catholic 7 schools did so. However, if those schools left before then, the Fighting Irish would also look to join the ACC this summer.

If unable to join the ACC in 2013-14, the Fighting Irish would consider spending one season in the Catholic 7 league before moving to the ACC in 2014, a source said.

It's unknown if the ACC could still add Notre Dame in 2013-14. However, Louisville, which also is leaving the Big East for the ACC, must wait until 2014 because it would disrupt the ACC's football divisions and schedules, a source said. Rutgers also would not leave the Big East for the Big Ten until 2014.
Last year, Notre Dame announced it was leaving the Big East to join the ACC in all sports, but football. Big East bylaws require 27 months notice before leaving, but multiple schools have negotiated an earlier exit. In the past two years, 16 schools have left or announced they were leaving the Big East.

As it stands, Connecticut, Cincinnati and South Florida remain the only holdovers not committed to either the new "Big East" or another conference.

The loss of the Catholic 7 schools also will impact the value of the media-rights deal with ESPN, a source said.

Last week, ESPN retained the Big East's media-rights deal by matching an offer from NBC Sports Network. The Big East's deal is worth $130 million for seven years, including $10 million for the 2013-14 basketball season, sources said.

However, if the Catholic 7 schools are not in the Big East in 2013-14, that $10 million amount would be reduced. The remainder of the deal -- $20 million annually from 2014-2020 -- was not dependent on the Catholic 7's membership and would not change, sources said.

The Big East's presidents still must vote and approve on the media-rights deal. The Big East's presidents and athletic directors meet Friday beginning at 11 a.m. in Atlanta.

It remains unknown which league -- the Catholic 7 or the remaining Big East schools -- would hold its basketball tournament in Madison Square Garden.

Once the Catholic 7 split is official, the new league will use a search firm to find a commissioner, a source said. The new league also expects to play 18 league games in its inaugural season.

While Butler, Xavier and, most likely, Creighton are expected to join the new Big East this fall, the Catholic 7 schools are also expected to add Dayton and St. Louis in 2014 for a 12-team league.

Even though the Big East will have to change conference names this fall, the football league will still remain an automatic qualifying BCS conference in 2013 -- the last year of the BCS -- and its champion will receive a berth to one of the BCS bowls

The last time SEC fans heard from Mike Slive on the topic of his league's forthcoming television network, he all-but-confirmed the open secret to USA Today, stopping short of saying the decision was final but declaring that there was room on the nation's satellite TV packages and cable bills for "at least one" more conference-branded network.

Hopefully for MIzzou, they will get a big contract because this year was terrible financially. The SEC only got 18M each or something, which was lower than the Big 12. And Mizzou had 13M withheld from their Big 12 exit fees. So they made almost nothing this year.

The football and basketball schools in the ever-changing conference announced Friday that they have agreed to a settlement that will allow the two sides to go their own ways on July 1.

Commissioner Mike Aresco told The Associated Press the seven Catholic schools that are leaving to form a basketball-centric conference will get the Big East name, along with the opportunity to play their league tournament in Madison Square Garden.

The football members, most of which are newcomers to a conference that has been ravaged by realignment, get a huge cash haul but will have to find a new name for their league.

"It's been an arduous four months but we got to the right place," Aresco said in a phone interview. "I think both conferences have good futures."

Aresco, who will remain commissioner of the football league, would not disclose the financial part of the settlement.

A person familiar with the negotiations told the AP earlier this week that the football schools will receive about $100 million from a $110 million stash the conference had built up over the last two and a half years through exit and entry fees as well as NCAA men's basketball tournament funds.

Aresco said the football schools have not chosen a conference name and there are no favorites yet. "We can get on with reinventing ourselves and re-establishing our brand," he said.

He also said they have not determined how the money from the separation agreement will be split among the members.

The person familiar with the negotiations said the bulk of the money will go to holdover members Cincinnati, Connecticut and South Florida.

The divorce agreement with the basketball members, and the football schools' new TV deal with ESPN, still must be ratified by the school presidents. Aresco said that should come soon and without glitches.

Next up on the agenda for the football schools, Aresco said, is to find a 12th member and venues for future basketball tournaments.

The settlement will bring the Big East back to its origins. When it was formed in 1979, it banded together a group of mostly small, private schools located in and around big Northeast cities.

The seven schools breaking away from the football schools include some of the Big East's founding members and most recognizable teams: Georgetown, St. John's, Providence, Seton Hall, Villanova, Marquette and DePaul. They are expected to sign a television rights deal with FOX, add at least two more schools and have the new league up-and-running by July.

"We are grateful to Commissioner Mike Aresco for spearheading an agreement that truly represents the best path forward for each of our great institutions and the thousands of student-athletes who compete for our schools annually," the presidents of the seven basketball schools said in a joint statement.

The football conference now known as the Big East will consist next season of Connecticut, South Florida, Cincinnati, Temple, Rutgers and Louisville, along with incoming members Memphis, Central Florida, SMU and Houston.

Rutgers and Louisville will likely be playing their last seasons in the conference before switching leagues, to the Big Ten and Atlantic Coast Conference, respectively.

Tulane and East Carolina are scheduled to join the football league in 2014, and Navy comes aboard in 2015. Tulsa is being targeted as the next addition to the conference.

The Big East started playing football in 1991, when it added Miami, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Rutgers and Temple, to go along with Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Boston College. The relationship between the football and basketball wings was always difficult to navigate, but Big East football was good enough to be a given a reserved spot in the Bowl Championship Series in 1998 and that gave the basketball schools access to millions of dollars in revenue they otherwise would not have had.

In 2004, Miami and Virginia Tech were lured from the Big East to the ACC and Boston College (a founding member), followed the next year.

Those defections looked as if they could kill Big East football, but the conference recovered by adding Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida to rebuild football and DePaul and Marquette to bolster basketball.

That worked for a while. Big East football more than held its own and Big East basketball, both men's and women's, thrived.

But the conference fell apart over the last two seasons. Starting with Syracuse and Pittsburgh announcing in 2011 that they would join the ACC, 16 schools, including Notre Dame, have bailed on the Big East.

Notre Dame plans to join the ACC, but was expected to spend one more season in the Big East. The breakup could lead the Irish to expedite their move.

The Big East seemed to be on its way toward stabilizing last fall. It hired Aresco, the former CBS executive, and had a plan to build a coast-to-coast football conference with Boise State anchoring a western division.

Then the Big Ten wooed Rutgers away and the ACC came for Louisville and the plan fell apart.

The basketball schools decided to take control of their future, with help from FOX, which will provide them a lucrative TV deal to help fill the network's new all-sports cable channels.

The football schools will still have a basketball league, with Connecticut, Memphis and Cincinnati as the headliners.